There is a diary high up on the REC that boldly declares: ``Gore will not run - breaking news in UK (Updated)``
Let's see how "breaking" it is. If you look around, the claim goes back to this quote:
Mr Gore told NRK it was a "great honour" to be awarded the prize for his climate campaigning.
Asked how it would affect his political future, he replied: "I don't have plans to be a candidate again so I don't really see it in that context at all.
BBC link
But, it turns out that Gore said exact the same thing as the bold-faced phrase above ... 9 months ago (and several times thereafter):
CORRECTED: Gore says he has no plans to run in 2008
Asked whether he planned to run in the 2008 election, Gore said: "I don't have plans to be a candidate again. I'm involved in a different kind of campaign."
Please note that Reuters was made to correct an earlier misleading report that too rushed to claim that Gore ruled out a run.
Why does neither the January statement nor the recent statement mean that Gore has ruled out a run? Because, Roy Neel, a close political aide of Al Gore, said the following recently:
"He's not ruled it out in the future." Asked what "the future" meant, Neel said, "Sometime later than today."
Link
Neel's statement clearly implies that the January statement was not tantamount to ruling out a run in 2008 by Al Gore. Since the same phrase has been repeated by Gore in the statement just reported, it follows that it too does not amount to ruling out a run in 2008 by Al Gore. Quite straightforward.
Further, Gore knows how to clearly rule out a run. He used these words in 2004:
Gore At Peace With Decision Not To Run
His Exit Makes Room For At Least Six Potential Candidacies
WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2002
"I've decided that I will not be a candidate for president in 2004," Gore told Lesley Stahl. "I personally have the energy and drive and ambition to make another campaign, but I don't think that it's the right thing for me to do."
and, he told draft Gore groups back then to stop their efforts shortly thereafter:
In 2002, Gore asked Malone (of algore.org) to stop a draft effort he had begun; Malone did. Malone started up again and, so far, Gore hasn't waved him off.
Link
He has done neither for 2008.
It's obvious that
Gore remains a potential candidate unless and until:
- he issues a Shermanesque statement (or at least a clear-cut statement ruling out a run as he did for 2004 as excerpted above),
- endorses another candidate, or
- the filing windows for the Democratic primaries and caucuses close in a certain number of states making it implausible that he'd run. Those filing windows are approaching but many of them close in November (some late in October).
Clearly, none of these has taken place.
Please help put to rest the misleading diary on the REC list and possibly other misleading accounts in the media by recommending this diary. Thank you.
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Update 1: Please see 0wn's excerpt of Michael Feldman's statement (another close associate of Al Gore) in response to the misleading Reuters report back then.
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Update 2: Please check out these videos uploaded by Al Gore to their new current.com website on issues including his statement of support for a single-payer universal healthcare system ("Healthcare is a right"): Al Gore's page at Current.com (link opens in a new window).